Daud Olatunji
The Federal Government revealed on Monday that electricity consumers collectively paid a total of N267.86 billion in electricity bills during the second quarter of this year.
This data was disclosed in the recently released second quarter 2023 report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), highlighting the collection efficiency of power distribution companies in the review period.
According to the report, “The total revenue collected by all Discos in 2023/Q2 was N267.86 billion out of N354.61 billion billed to customers.
This translates to a collection efficiency of 75.54 percent, representing an increase of 6.79 percentage points when compared to 2023/Q1 (68.75 percent).”
The report attributes this increase in collection efficiency to the improved metering by Discos and the implementation of various collection campaigns aimed at enhancing remittances by post-paid customers.
Regarding market remittance, the NERC report highlights that in 2023/Q2, the cumulative upstream invoice payable by Discos was N194.69 billion, consisting of N154.04 billion for generation costs from NBET (Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading) and N40.65 billion for transmission and administrative services by the market operator.
“Out of this amount, the Discos collectively remitted a total sum of N185.36 billion (N152.48 billion for NBET and N32.88 billion for MO) with an outstanding balance of N9.32 billion.
This translates to a remittance performance of 95.21 percent in 2023/Q2 compared to the 67.43 percent recorded in 2023/Q1,” the report stated.
In terms of remittance by special and cross-border customers, the regulator notes that during 2023/Q2, out of the four international customers serviced by the market operator, only Transcorp-SBEE made a payment of $1.43 million, against an invoice of $2.13 million issued for services rendered in 2023/Q2.
The report highlights that the other three international customers did not make any payment against the $11.97 million invoice issued to them by the market operator for services rendered in 2023/Q2.
Cumulatively, bilateral customers made a total payment of N816.66 million, against the cumulative invoice of N2,845.08 million issued to them by the market operator for services rendered in 2023/Q2.
The report data reflects an improvement in remittances by Discos to the power market while indicating that international consumers of Nigeria’s electricity faced significant payment defaults during the review period.
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